Letter 225: Your point about the kinship of our professions is well taken.

To Ammianus. [360?] To help those who come to you from us is the mark of a man both good and a friend, but to send them away rejoicing without letters is the mark of one who is no caring friend, and altogether of an idle one. You ought to write in either case, both when you are giving aid and when you are not, so that now you may not, by granting the greater thing, begrudge the lesser, and now, in place of the greater, you may console with the lesser. But let this Heracleides here both obtain your forethought and carry off a letter. And it is right that you lend your aid to a man who is a friend of Cabeirius. And you know those with whom Cabeirius has formed ties of marriage. But if a fee must also be paid, he could tell you many things about Nilus. And what greater thing could Ammianus be seeking?

Ἀμμιανῷ. (360?) Τὸ μὲν ὠφελεῖν τοὺς παρ’ ἡμῶν ὡς σὲ ἰόντας καὶ χρη- στοῦ καὶ φίλου, τὸ δὲ χαίροντας ἄνευ γραμμάτων ἀποπέμπειν οὐ κηδομένου φίλου, πάντως δὲ ἀργοῦ. δεῖ δέ σε κατ’ ἄμφω γράφειν, καὶ βοηθοῦντα καὶ μή, ἕνα νῦν μὲν μὴ τὸ μεῖζον δι- δοὺς φθονῇς τοῦ δευτέρου, νῦν δὲ ἀντὶ τοῦ μείζονος παραμυ- θῆται τὸ δεύτερον. ἀλλ’ Ἡρακλείδης οὑτοσὶ καὶ τυγχανέτω προνοίας καὶ κομιζέτω γράμματα. δίκαιος δὲ εἶ συλλαβεῖν ἀνδρὶ φίλῳ Καβειρίου. Καβείριος δὲ οἷς ἐκήδευσεν οἶσθα. εἰ δὲ καὶ μισθὸν τελέσαι δεῖ, πολλὰ ἄν σοι διηγήσαιτο περὶ τοῦ Νείλου. καὶ τί ἂν μεῖζον Ἀμμιανὸς ζητοίη;